updated 04:55 pm EDT, Fri September 23, 2011

Leak shows Comcast AnyPlay Service for tablets

Comcast's long-referenced plans for live iPad TV are getting close, a leaked guide showed Friday afternoon. The option, now christened AnyPlay, will stream live TV over an iPad or certain other tablets as long as they're on Wi-Fi in the home, MacRumors saw. Viewers will need a special Motorola set-top box to watch, though, and will be limited to one tablet at a time for a maximum of ten registered tablets.

Most channels will be readily available, although it won't have access to the on-demand and pay-per view content. These won't necessarily be issues given some of the content in Xfinity TV and on third-party services.

AnyPlay should roll out gradually in a handful of markets before being made available on a national level. Comcast hasn't said in the marketing copy if there will be a premium on AnyPlay, though any costs will most likely be folded into the box rather than the app.

Live TV on tablets isn't new and has been done by other providers before. Disputes by studios have set these back and may have complicated Comcast's release. Content providers have sometimes interpreted tablet TV streaming as a second play and have argued that extra rights are needed, even if the feed is the exact same one used for regular TV.